


Talk to the Hands 'Cause the Ears Aren’t Listenin'

by cutsiecastiel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, M/M, deaf cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 06:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3478340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsiecastiel/pseuds/cutsiecastiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas has always been deaf, but he's never really minded. His only regret is how difficult communicating can sometimes be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talk to the Hands 'Cause the Ears Aren’t Listenin'

Being deaf sucks. Or at least, that’s what people assume.

As for Castiel, he’s always been completely and irrevocably deaf, and he didn’t mind so much. People treated him differently of course, but his lack of hearing had never really hindered his ability to succeed as much as some people might choose believe.

He can see things better than most people. He sees the little details that other people miss. Like the flecks of gold in his boyfriend’s eyes, or the small skip in his steps due to his bowlegs. And despite not being able to hear his voice, Cas can still _feel_ the deep rumble from deep in Dean’s chest when they’re lying in bed with Cas’ head on the other man’s chest.

The only regret Cas has is that he can’t communicate as well. It’s difficult when not everyone he meets knows sign language. He’s taken to keeping a pen and pad of paper in his coat pocket for those moments when he needs to get a point across to someone who doesn’t understand. When Castiel met the Winchesters, it took Dean a good five minutes before he realize that he wasn’t being ignored, the other man just simply couldn’t hear him. Since then, both Sam and Dean have become quite good at sign language, and when Dean told Cas he loved him, he signed it out. That was also the night they first made love.

Cas remembers it well.

The other problem Castiel has is that he can’t talk like other people do. He can’t hear how their mouths shape consonants and vowels and his speech, from what his brothers told him growing up, has always sounded off. He has learned to speak over the years, but he lacks the confidence to do it often. It frustrates him. He had once admitted this to Dean who told him that it was okay, he was getting better anyway and one day he’d be fine. To this day, Cas doesn’t know why that angered him so much, but he knows that that was the first day in his life he had ever raised his voice. He yelled at Dean that sure, maybe he _could_ get better, but he wouldn’t ever be perfect. “It’s not something that can be fixed! I’m not broken Dean I just am.”

Dean had held him while he cried and once he was done he’d signed “I’m not trying to fix you, baby, I love you just as you are.”

All things considered, Cas was okay being deaf.

But he’d been spending hours with Sam today trying to get his speech to be just a bit better. He wanted to be able to give Dean the same gift he had given to Castiel, no matter how frustrating the practice was for both him and Sam. After a few hours, Sam had deemed Cas ready and as well spoken as he was going to get in a day. So Cas went off to go find Dean and share with him.

When Castiel found him, he was sitting on their bed looking through an old photo album. He was smiling down at a picture of him and Cas from years earlier when they had been just begun dating. The lines around his eyes and mouth had gotten more pronounced over the years but his smile not less blinding. Castiel smiled softly at him from his spot in the doorway. “Dean.”

Dean looked up from the picture, surprised. Cas didn’t speak often, but when he did it was important. He waved and patted the spot beside him on the bed but Cas stopped short in front of him. He wanted to be standing for this.

“I love you.” The words were slow, and careful, unsure in their tone but not in their meaning. Dean stood slowly, eyes wide and slowly starting to water as he pulled Cas into his arms, lips chapped but still warm and soft against Castiel’s. The kiss was slow but chaste and Dean pulled away first to sign out “say that again.” Cas repeated himself.

 He continued to repeat himself all throughout the night as him and Dean made love together, slowly and softly.


End file.
